Lady Augusta Bracknell in The Importance of Being Earnest Character Analysis Lady Bracknell Alone This very symmetrical play has an odd number of characters: nine. Everybody has somebody: Jack and Gwendolen, Algernon and Cecily, Miss Prism and Chasuble, Lane and Merriman. Who’s left out? Lady Bracknell. She’s the only character without a foil or partner. Lady Bracknell is Wilde’s symbol of the dominant Victorian ethic. As such, she is the most overbearing and powerful character in the play. There is no question, from any character, that the buck stops with her. Her demand for Jack to find a good family drives the action of the play. If she says no, the answer is no. This is a closed society, and no matter what fun the youngsters have, she’s watching and judging them. Lady Bracknell the Judge As a symbol of the British upper-crust, she passes down the rules and traditions of society and stands in not-very-silent judgment of how the others obey them.

When she enters a room, it’s interrogation time: Lady Bracknell: [Pencil and note-book in hand.] I feel bound to tell you that you are not down on my list of eligible young men, although I have the same list as the dear Duchess of Bolton has. We work together, in fact. However, I am quite ready to enter your name, should your answers be what a really affectionate mother requires. Do you smoke? (I.178) Jack says yes, and the questioning continues. It’s all going pretty well until he reveals that he doesn’t know who his parents are, and that he was found in a handbag. This. Will. Not. Do. Lady Bracknell snaps shut her notebook and sweeps out "in majestic indignation" (I.218). Lady Bracknell, Protector of the Victorian Great and Good What’s so bad about Jack being found in a handbag and having no idea who his parents are? It means he has no name, no background, no class—he may be a peasant for all anyone knows. And Lady Bracknell insists that Gwendolen shouldn’t marry beneath her. Just like the American dream, the Victorian one goes up, not down.

And Lady Bracknell has moved up: "When I married Lord Bracknell I had no fortune of any kind. But I never dreamed for a moment of allowing that to stand in my way" (III.77). There’s no way she’ll allow Jack to undo her progress. The Importance of Being Earnest (2002) - Quotes - IMDb The Importance of Being Earnest (2002) Lady Bracknell : Exploded? Algy : [pretending sadness] Mm. Lady Bracknell : Was he the victim of some revolutionary outrage? I was not aware that Mr. Bunbury was interested in social legislation. Algy : My dear Aunt Augusta, I mean he was *found out*. The doctors found out that Bunbury could not live - that is what I mean - so Bunbury died. Lady Bracknell : He seems to have had great confidence in the opinion of his physicians. Share this: Facebook | Twitter | Permalink Hide options Lady Bracknell : I do not approve of anything that tampers with natural ignorance. Ignorance is like a delecate, exotic fruit. Touch it, and the bloom is gone. The whole theory of modern education is radically unsound.

Fortunately in England, at any rate, education produces no effect whatsoever. If it did it would prove a serious threat to the upper classes, and probably lead ot acts of violence in Grosvenor Square. Jack : I'll bet you anything you like that half an hour after they have met, they will be calling each other sister. Algy : Women only do that when they have called each other a lot of other things first. Algy : But why does your aunt call you her uncle? [Reading cigarette case] Algy : "From little Cecily, with her fondest love to her dear Uncle Jack." There is no objection, I admit, to an aunt being a small aunt, but why an aunt, no matter what her size may be, should call her own nephew her uncle, I can't quite make out. [on hearing that Jack's wastrel brother died suddenly] Miss Prism : What a lesson for him. I trust he will profit by it. Algy : Do you mean you couldn't love me if I had a different name? Cecily : But what name? Algy : Well... Algy, for instance.

Cecily : I might respect you, Earnest, I might admire your character, but I feel that I could never give you my undivided attention. Jack : Algy, you're always talking nonsense. Algy : It's better than listening to it. [Jack tells Lady Bracknell his address in London] Lady Bracknell : The unfashionable side. I thought there was something. [she reaches for the bell, but reconsiders and pulls back] Lady Bracknell : However, that could easily be altered. Jack : Do you mean the fashion, or the side? Lady Bracknell : Well, both, if necessary, I presume! Lady Bracknell : Found? Jack : Yes. The late Mr. Thomas Cardew, an old gentlemen of a kindly disposition found me and gave me the name of Worthing because he happened to have a first class ticket to Worthing at the time. Worthing is a place in Sussex. It's a seaside resort. Lady Bracknell : And where did this charitable gentlemen with the first class ticket to the seaside resort find you? Jack : In a handbag. Lady Bracknell : [closes eyes briefly] A handbag?

Jack : Yes, Lady Bracknell, I was in a hand bag. A somewhat large... black... leather handbag with handles... to it. [pause] Lady Bracknell : An ordinary handbag. Lady Bracknell : And where did this Mr. James... or, Thomas Cardew come across this ordinary handbag? Jack : The cloak room at Victoria Station. It was given to him in mistake for his own... Lady Bracknell : [Shocked] The cloak room at Victoria Station? Jack : Yes. The Brighton line. Lady Bracknell : The line is immaterial. [begins tearing up notes] Lady Bracknell : Mr. Worthing. I must confess that I feel somewhat bewildered by what you have just told me. To be born, or at any rate bred in a handbag, whether it have handles or not, seems to me to display a contempt for the ordinary decencies of family life which reminds one of the worst excesses of the French revolution, and I presume you know what that unfortunate movement led to? Share this: Facebook | Twitter | Permalink Hide options Lady Bracknell : You seem to be displaying signs of triviality. Jack : On the contrary, Aunt Augusta.

I've now realized for the first time in my life the vital importance of being Ernest. Share this: Facebook | Twitter | Permalink Hide options Lady Bracknell : I don't know whether there is anything particularly exciting about the air in this particular part of Hertfordshire, but the number of engagements that go on seem to me to be considerably above the proper average that statistics have laid down for our guidance. Algy : I don't seem to care about anything anymore... I only care for you. I love you Cecily. Will you marry me? Cecily : Why, of course! We've been engaged for the past 3 months! Share this: Facebook | Twitter | Permalink Hide options Jack : You don't think there's any chance of Gwendolyn becoming like her mother in about 150 years, do you Algy? Algy : My dear fellow, all women become like their mothers, that's their tragedy. No man does, and that's his. Share this: Facebook | Twitter | Permalink Hide options Lady Bracknell : Sorry if we are a little late, Algy. I was obliged to call on dear Lady Harbury. I have not been there since her husband's death.

I never saw a woman so altered. She looks quite twenty years younger. [while Algy is pretending to be Jack's brother] Jack : [whispering] Algy! Algy! Algy! [Algy looks around, as if wondering who Jack's calling] Jack : Good heavens, I suppose a man may eat his own muffins in his own garden. Algy : But you have just said it was perfectly heartless to eat muffins! Jack : I said it was perfectly heartless of YOU under the circumstances. That is a very different thing. Algy : That may be, but the muffins are the same! Share this: Facebook | Twitter | Permalink Hide options Jack : How you can sit there eating muffins when we're in this terrible trouble, I can't make out! It seems to me to be perfectly heartless... Algy : I can hardly eat muffins in an agitated manner. The butter would probably get on my cuffs. Algy : Did you hear what I was playing, Lane? Lane : I didn't think it polite to listen, Sir.

Share this: Facebook | Twitter | Permalink Hide options [over the end credits, Algy and Jack rehearse their song to win back their girls] Jack : I think your high notes may have damaged our chances, old boy. You do want them to come down, don't you? Algy : Well, they're never going to come down while you're singing like that, you're completely out of tune. Jack : How dare you. Algy : I'll take this next bit. Jack : You leave this one to me, you go and have a lie-down. Algy : I'm doing it. Jack : Move out of my way, I'm coming through. Algy : Go easy, my dear fellow... Jack : [singing] COME DO-O-O-O-WN, LADY COME DOWN... Algy : Overdoing it, less is more. Lady Bracknell : I have always been of the opinion that a man who desires to get married should know either everything or nothing. Which do you know? Jack : I know nothing, Lady Bracknell. Lady Bracknell : I am pleased to hear it. I do not approve of anything that tampers with natural ignorance.

Ignorance is like a very delicate exotic fruit. Touch it and the bloom is gone. The whole theory of modern education is radically unsound. Fortunately, in England at any rate, education produces no effect whatsoever. If it did, it would prove a serious danger to the upper classes, and probably lead to acts of violence in Grosvenor's Square. SparkNotes: The Importance of Being Earnest: Plot Overview The Importance of Being Earnest Oscar Wilde Context Character List Jack Worthing, the play’s protagonist, is a pillar of the community in Hertfordshire, where he is guardian to Cecily Cardew, the pretty, eighteen-year-old granddaughter of the late Thomas Cardew, who found and adopted Jack when he was a baby. In Hertfordshire, Jack has responsibilities: he is a major landowner and justice of the peace, with tenants, farmers, and a number of servants and other employees all dependent on him. For years, he has also pretended to have an irresponsible black-sheep brother named Ernest who leads a scandalous life in pursuit of pleasure and is always getting into trouble of a sort that requires Jack to rush grimly off to his assistance.

In fact, Ernest is merely Jack’s alibi, a phantom that allows him to disappear for days at a time and do as he likes. No one but Jack knows that he himself is Ernest. Ernest is the name Jack goes by in London, which is where he really goes on these occasions—probably to pursue the very sort of behavior he pretends to disapprove of in his imaginary brother. Jack is in love with Gwendolen Fairfax, the cousin of his best friend, Algernon Moncrieff. When the play opens, Algernon, who knows Jack as Ernest, has begun to suspect something, having found an inscription inside Jack’s cigarette case addressed to “Uncle Jack” from someone who refers to herself as “little Cecily.” Algernon suspects that Jack may be leading a double life, a practice he seems to regard as commonplace and indispensable to modern life. He calls a person who leads a double life a “Bunburyist,” after a nonexistent friend he pretends to have, a chronic invalid named Bunbury, to whose deathbed he is forever being summoned whenever he wants to get out of some tiresome social obligation.

At the beginning of Act I, Jack drops in unexpectedly on Algernon and announces that he intends to propose to Gwendolen. Algernon confronts him with the cigarette case and forces him to come clean, demanding to know who “Jack” and “Cecily” are. Jack confesses that his name isn’t really Ernest and that Cecily is his ward, a responsibility imposed on him by his adoptive father’s will. Jack also tells Algernon about his fictional brother. Jack says he’s been thinking of killing off this fake brother, since Cecily has been showing too active an interest in him. Without meaning to, Jack describes Cecily in terms that catch Algernon’s attention and make him even more interested in her than he is already. Gwendolen and her mother, Lady Bracknell, arrive, which gives Jack an opportunity to propose to Gwendolen. Jack is delighted to discover that Gwendolen returns his affections, but he is alarmed to learn that Gwendolen is fixated on the name Ernest, which she says “inspires absolute confidence.” Gwendolen makes clear that she would not consider marrying a man who was not named Ernest.

Lady Bracknell interviews Jack to determine his eligibility as a possible son-in-law, and during this interview she asks about his family background. When Jack explains that he has no idea who his parents were and that he was found, by the man who adopted him, in a handbag in the cloakroom at Victoria Station, Lady Bracknell is scandalized. She forbids the match between Jack and Gwendolen and sweeps out of the house. In Act II, Algernon shows up at Jack’s country estate posing as Jack’s brother Ernest. Meanwhile, Jack, having decided that Ernest has outlived his usefulness, arrives home in deep mourning, full of a story about Ernest having died suddenly in Paris. He is enraged to find Algernon there masquerading as Ernest but has to go along with the charade. If he doesn’t, his own lies and deceptions will be revealed. While Jack changes out of his mourning clothes, Algernon, who has fallen hopelessly in love with Cecily, asks her to marry him.

He is surprised to discover that Cecily already considers that they are engaged, and he is charmed when she reveals that her fascination with “Uncle Jack’s brother” led her to invent an elaborate romance between herself and him several months ago. Algernon is less enchanted to learn that part of Cecily’s interest in him derives from the name Ernest, which, unconsciously echoing Gwendolen, she says “inspires absolute confidence.” Algernon goes off in search of Dr. Chasuble, the local rector, to see about getting himself christened Ernest. Meanwhile, Gwendolen arrives, having decided to pay Jack an unexpected visit. Gwendolen is shown into the garden, where Cecily orders tea and attempts to play hostess. Cecily has no idea how Gwendolen figures into Jack’s life, and Gwendolen, for her part, has no idea who Cecily is. Gwendolen initially thinks Cecily is a visitor to the Manor House and is disconcerted to learn that Cecily is “Mr.

Worthing’s ward.” She notes that Ernest has never mentioned having a ward, and Cecily explains that it is not Ernest Worthing who is her guardian but his brother Jack and, in fact, that she is engaged to be married to Ernest Worthing. Gwendolen points out that this is impossible as she herself is engaged to Ernest Worthing. The tea party degenerates into a war of manners. Jack and Algernon arrive toward the climax of this confrontation, each having separately made arrangements with Dr. Chasuble to be christened Ernest later that day. Each of the young ladies points out that the other has been deceived: Cecily informs Gwendolen that her fiancé is really named Jack and Gwendolen informs Cecily that hers is really called Algernon. The two women demand to know where Jack’s brother Ernest is, since both of them are engaged to be married to him. Jack is forced to admit that he has no brother and that Ernest is a complete fiction. Both women are shocked and furious, and they retire to the house arm in arm. Act III takes place in the drawing room of the Manor House, where Cecily and Gwendolen have retired.

When Jack and Algernon enter from the garden, the two women confront them. Cecily asks Algernon why he pretended to be her guardian’s brother. Algernon tells her he did it in order to meet her. Gwendolen asks Jack whether he pretended to have a brother in order to come into London to see her as often as possible, and she interprets his evasive reply as an affirmation. The women are somewhat appeased but still concerned over the issue of the name. However, when Jack and Algernon tell Gwendolen and Cecily that they have both made arrangements to be christened Ernest that afternoon, all is forgiven and the two pairs of lovers embrace. At this moment, Lady Bracknell’s arrival is announced. Lady Bracknell has followed Gwendolen from London, having bribed Gwendolen’s maid to reveal her destination. She demands to know what is going on. Gwendolen again informs Lady Bracknell of her engagement to Jack, and Lady Bracknell reiterates that a union between them is out of the question.

Algernon tells Lady Bracknell of his engagement to Cecily, prompting her to inspect Cecily and inquire into her social connections, which she does in a routine and patronizing manner that infuriates Jack. He replies to all her questions with a mixture of civility and sarcasm, withholding until the last possible moment the information that Cecily is actually worth a great deal of money and stands to inherit still more when she comes of age. At this, Lady Bracknell becomes genuinely interested. Jack informs Lady Bracknell that, as Cecily’s legal guardian, he refuses to give his consent to her union with Algernon. Lady Bracknell suggests that the two young people simply wait until Cecily comes of age, and Jack points out that under the terms of her grandfather’s will, Cecily does not legally come of age until she is thirty-five. Lady Bracknell asks Jack to reconsider, and he points out that the matter is entirely in her own hands. As soon as she consents to his marriage to Gwendolen, Cecily can have his consent to marry Algernon. However, Lady Bracknell refuses to entertain the notion. She and Gwendolen are on the point of leaving when Dr.

Chasuble arrives and happens to mention Cecily’s governess, Miss Prism. At this, Lady Bracknell starts and asks that Miss Prism be sent for. When the governess arrives and catches sight of Lady Bracknell, she begins to look guilty and furtive. Lady Bracknell accuses her of having left her sister’s house twenty-eight years before with a baby and never returned. She demands to know where the baby is. Miss Prism confesses she doesn’t know, explaining that she lost the baby, having absentmindedly placed it in a handbag in which she had meant to place the manuscript for a novel she had written. Jack asks what happened to the bag, and Miss Prism says she left it in the cloakroom of a railway station. Jack presses her for further details and goes racing offstage, returning a few moments later with a large handbag. When Miss Prism confirms that the bag is hers, Jack throws himself on her with a cry of “Mother!” It takes a while before the situation is sorted out, but before too long we understand that Jack is not the illegitimate child of Miss Prism but the legitimate child of Lady Bracknell’s sister and, therefore, Algernon’s older brother.

Furthermore, Jack had been originally christened “Ernest John.” All these years Jack has unwittingly been telling the truth: Ernest is his name, as is Jack, and he does have an unprincipled younger brother—Algernon. Again the couples embrace, Miss Prism and Dr. Chasuble follow suit, and Jack acknowledges that he now understands “the vital Importance of Being Earnest.” More Help Top 10 Lady Bracknell quotes from The Importance of Being Earnest 1 Reply Lady Bracknell may be one of Wilde’s, and indeed modern literature’s, most preposterous creations. Her ignorant and often absurd comments are a satire of Victorian aristocracy, making her the most quotable of the play’s characters . From Edith Evans’ notorious delivery to Judi Dench’s terrifying dominance, we all have our favourite Lady Bracknell lines. Here are our top 10 Lady Bracknell quotes from The Importance of Being Earnest; most of them come from the interview scene with Jack but there are many beautifully crafted one-liners dotted throughout the play. Brian Bedford as Lady Bracknell in his 2011 Broadway hit 1. ‘A handbag?’ 2.

‘To lose one parent, Mr Worthing, may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness.’ 3. ‘To be born, or at any rate bred, in a handbag, whether it has handles or not, seems to me to display a contempt for the ordinary decencies of family life that reminds one of the worst excesses of the French Revolution.’ 4. ‘Indeed, no woman should ever be quite accurate about her age. It looks so calculating.’ 5. ‘You can hardly imagine that I and Lord Bracknell would dream of allowing our only daughter – a girl brought up with the utmost care – to marry into a cloakroom, and form an alliance with a parcel?’ 6. ‘The whole theory of modern education is radically unsound. Fortunately, in England at any rate, education produces no effect whatsoever. If it did, it would prove a serious danger to the upper classes, and probably lead to acts of violence in Grosvenor Square.’ 7. ‘When you do become engaged to someone, I, or your father, should his health permit him, will inform you of the fact.

An engagement should come on a young girl as a surprise, pleasant or unpleasant, as the case may be. It is hardly a matter that she could be allowed to arrange for herself.’ 8. ‘35 is a very attractive age. London society is full of women of the very highest birth who have, of their own free choice, remained 35 for years.’ 9. ‘To speak frankly, I am not in favour of long engagements. They give people the opportunity of finding out each other’s character before marriage, which I think is never advisable.’ 10. ‘Never speak disrespectfully of Society, Algernon. Only people who can’t get into it do that.’ What’s your favourite Lady Bracknell quote? Lady Bracknell & Jack Worthing Scene in Wilde's "Earnest" Plays/Drama Expert By Wade Bradford In this wonderfully witty scene featured in Act One of Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest , the protagonist Jack Worthing wishes to marry young Gwendolyn, the love of his life. The only thing stopping him? Gwendolyn's mother, the dour, unintentionally hilarious Lady Bracknell .

Jack Worthing allows himself to be interviewed by Lady Bracknell, hoping to gain the woman's favor and win permission to marry Gwendolyn. Unfortunately for Jack, Lady Bracknell is most displeased when she discovers the young man's unusual origins. The following two-person scene is ideal for drama class , and has great potential to steal the show at drama competitions, despite the fact that Oscar Wilde wrote the play over one hundred years ago. LADY BRACKNELL. (Sitting down.) You can take a seat, Mr. Worthing. (Looks in her pocket for note-book and pencil.) JACK. Thank you, Lady Bracknell, I prefer standing. LADY BRACKNELL. (Pencil and note-book in hand.) I feel bound to tell you that you are not down on my list of eligible young men, although I have the same list as the dear Duchess of Bolton has. continue reading below our video 10 Facts About the Titanic That You Don't Know We work together, in fact. However, I am quite ready to enter your name, should your answers be what a really affectionate mother requires. Do you smoke? JACK. Well, yes, I must admit I smoke.

LADY BRACKNELL. I am glad to hear it. A man should always have an occupation of some kind. There are far too many idle men in London as it is. How old are you? JACK. Twenty-nine. LADY BRACKNELL. A very good age to be married at. I have always been of opinion that a man who desires to get married should know either everything or nothing. Which do you know? JACK. (After some hesitation.) I know nothing, Lady Bracknell. LADY BRACKNELL. I am pleased to hear it. I do not approve of anything that tampers with natural ignorance. Ignorance is like a delicate exotic fruit; touch it and the bloom is gone. The whole theory of modern education is radically unsound. Fortunately in England, at any rate, education produces no effect whatsoever. If it did, it would prove a serious danger to the upper classes, and probably lead to acts of violence in Grosvenor Square . What is your income? JACK. Between seven and eight thousand a year. LADY BRACKNELL. (Makes a note in her book.) In land, or in investments? JACK. In investments, chiefly.

LADY BRACKNELL. That is satisfactory. What between the duties expected of one during one's lifetime, and the duties exacted from one after one's death, land has ceased to be either a profit or a pleasure. It gives one position, and prevents one from keeping it up. That's all that can be said about land. JACK. I have a country house with some land, of course, attached to it, about fifteen hundred acres, I believe; but I don't depend on that for my real income. In fact, as far as I can make out, the poachers are the only people who make anything out of it. LADY BRACKNELL. A country house! How many bedrooms? Well, that point can be cleared up afterwards. You have a town house, I hope? A girl with a simple, unspoiled nature, like Gwendolen, could hardly be expected to reside in the country. JACK. Well, I own a house in Belgrave Square, but it is let by the year to Lady Bloxham. Of course, I can get it back whenever I like, at six months' notice. LADY BRACKNELL. Lady Bloxham?

I don't know her. JACK. Oh, she goes about very little. She is a lady considerably advanced in years. LADY BRACKNELL. Ah, nowadays that is no guarantee of respectability of character. What number in Belgrave Square? JACK. 149. LADY BRACKNELL. (Shaking her head.) The unfashionable side. I thought there was something. However, that could easily be altered. JACK. Do you mean the fashion, or the side? LADY BRACKNELL. (Sternly.) Both, if necessary, I presume. What are your politics? JACK. Well, I am afraid I really have none. I am a Liberal Unionist . LADY BRACKNELL. Oh, they count as Tories. They dine with us. Or come in the evening, at any rate. Now to minor matters. Are your parents living? JACK. I have lost both my parents. LADY BRACKNELL. To lose one parent, Mr. Worthing, may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness. Who was your father? He was evidently a man of some wealth.

Was he born in what the Radical papers call the purple of commerce, or did he rise from the ranks of the aristocracy? JACK. I am afraid I really don't know. The fact is, Lady Bracknell, I said I had lost my parents. It would be nearer the truth to say that my parents seem to have lost me . . . I don't actually know who I am by birth. I was . . . well, I was found. LADY BRACKNELL. Found! JACK. The late Mr. Thomas Cardew, an old gentleman of a very charitable and kindly disposition, found me, and gave me the name of Worthing, because he happened to have a first-class ticket for Worthing in his pocket at the time. Worthing is a place in Sussex. It is a seaside resort. LADY BRACKNELL. Where did the charitable gentleman who had a first-class ticket for this seaside resort find you? JACK. (Gravely.) In a hand-bag. LADY BRACKNELL. A hand-bag? JACK. (Very seriously.) Yes, Lady Bracknell.

I was in a hand-bag - a somewhat large, black leather hand-bag, with handles to it - an ordinary hand-bag in fact. LADY BRACKNELL. In what locality did this Mr. James, or Thomas, Cardew come across this ordinary hand-bag? JACK. In the cloak-room at Victoria Station . It was given to him in mistake for his own. LADY BRACKNELL. The cloak-room at Victoria Station? JACK. Yes. The Brighton line. LADY BRACKNELL. The line is immaterial. Mr. Worthing, I confess I feel somewhat bewildered by what you have just told me. To be born, or at any rate bred, in a hand-bag, whether it had handles or not, seems to me to display a contempt for the ordinary decencies of family life that reminds one of the worst excesses of the French Revolution . And I presume you know what that unfortunate movement led to?

As for the particular locality in which the hand-bag was found, a cloak-room at a railway station might serve to conceal a social indiscretion - has probably, indeed, been used for that purpose before now-but it could hardly be regarded as an assured basis for a recognised position in good society. JACK. May I ask you then what you would advise me to do? I need hardly say I would do anything in the world to ensure Gwendolen's happiness. LADY BRACKNELL. I would strongly advise you, Mr. Worthing, to try and acquire some relations as soon as possible, and to make a definite effort to produce at any rate one parent, of either sex, before the season is quite over. JACK. Well, I don't see how I could possibly manage to do that. I can produce the hand-bag at any moment. It is in my dressing-room at home. I really think that should satisfy you, Lady Bracknell. LADY BRACKNELL. Me, sir! What has it to do with me?

You can hardly imagine that I and Lord Bracknell would dream of allowing our only daughter - a girl brought up with the utmost care - to marry into a cloak-room, and form an alliance with a parcel? Good morning, Mr. Worthing! (LADY BRACKNELL sweeps out in majestic indignation.) The Importance of Being Earnest (1952) - Quotes - IMDb The Importance of Being Earnest (1952) Lady Bracknell : Are your parents living? Jack Worthing : I have lost both my parents. Lady Bracknell : To lose one parent, Mr. Worthing, may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness. Share this: Facebook | Twitter | Permalink Hide options Algernon Moncrieff : I really don't see anything romantic in proposing. It's very romantic to be in love but there's nothing romantic about a definite proposal. Why, one might be accepted. One usually is I believe. Then the whole excitement is over. The very essence of romance is uncertainty. Lady Bracknell : Do you smoke? Jack Worthing : Well yes, I must admit I smoke. Lady Bracknell : I'm glad to hear it.

A man should have an occupation of some kind. Jack Worthing : Algy, you don't suppose that Gwendolyn will become like her mother - in about one hundred and fifty years, do you? Algernon Moncrieff : All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does. That's his. Cecily Cardew : When I see a spade I call it a spade. Gwendolyn Fairfax : I am glad to say that I have never seen a spade. Share this: Facebook | Twitter | Permalink Hide options Jack Worthing : You are quite perfect Miss Fairfax. Gwendolyn Fairfax : Oh I hope I am not that. It would leave no room for developments, and I intend to develop in many directions. Jack Worthing : I should extremely like to meet them. What do they talk about? Algernon Moncreiff : The fools? Oh, about the clever people, of course. Share this: Facebook | Twitter | Permalink Hide options Algernon Moncrieff : Oh! I am not really wicked at all, cousin Cecily. You mustn't think that I am wicked.

Cecily Cardew : If you are not, then you have certainly have been deceiving us all in a very inexcusable manner. I hope you have not been leading a double life, pretending to be wicked and being really good all the time. That would be hypocrisy. Share this: Facebook | Twitter | Permalink Hide options Lady Bracknell : I would strongly advise you, Mr. Worthing, to try and acquire some relations as soon as possible, and to make a definite effort to produce at any rate one parent, of either sex, before the season is quite over. Jack Worthing : Well, I don't see how I could possibly manage to do that, Lady Bracknell. I can produce the hand-bag at any moment. It is in my dressing-room at home. I really think that should satisfy you, Lady Bracknell. Lady Bracknell : Me, sir! What has it to do with me? You can hardly imagine that I and Lord Bracknell would dream of allowing our only daughter - a girl brought up with the utmost care - to marry into a cloak-room, and form an alliance with a parcel? Good morning, Mr. Worthing!

SparkNotes: The Importance of Being Earnest: Character List The Importance of Being Earnest Oscar Wilde Plot Overview Analysis of Major Characters John (Jack/Ernest) Worthing, J.P. - The play’s protagonist. Jack Worthing is a seemingly responsible and respectable young man who leads a double life. In Hertfordshire, where he has a country estate, Jack is known as Jack. In London he is known as Ernest. As a baby, Jack was discovered in a handbag in the cloakroom of Victoria Station by an old man who adopted him and subsequently made Jack guardian to his granddaughter, Cecily Cardew. Jack is in love with his friend Algernon’s cousin, Gwendolen Fairfax. The initials after his name indicate that he is a Justice of the Peace. Algernon Moncrieff - The play’s secondary hero. Algernon is a charming, idle, decorative bachelor, nephew of Lady Bracknell, cousin of Gwendolen Fairfax, and best friend of Jack Worthing, whom he has known for years as Ernest. Algernon is brilliant, witty, selfish, amoral, and given to making delightful paradoxical and epigrammatic pronouncements.

He has invented a fictional friend, “Bunbury,” an invalid whose frequent sudden relapses allow Algernon to wriggle out of unpleasant or dull social obligations. Read an in-depth analysis of Algernon Moncrieff. Gwendolen Fairfax - Algernon’s cousin and Lady Bracknell’s daughter. Gwendolen is in love with Jack, whom she knows as Ernest. A model and arbiter of high fashion and society, Gwendolen speaks with unassailable authority on matters of taste and morality. She is sophisticated, intellectual, cosmopolitan, and utterly pretentious. Gwendolen is fixated on the name Ernest and says she will not marry a man without that name. Read an in-depth analysis of Gwendolen Fairfax. Cecily Cardew - Jack’s ward, the granddaughter of the old gentlemen who found and adopted Jack when Jack was a baby. Cecily is probably the most realistically drawn character in the play. Like Gwendolen, she is obsessed with the name Ernest, but she is even more intrigued by the idea of wickedness.

This idea, rather than the virtuous-sounding name, has prompted her to fall in love with Jack’s brother Ernest in her imagination and to invent an elaborate romance and courtship between them. Maddy Costa on Oscar Wilde's Lady Bracknell | Life and style | The Guardian Share on Messenger Close There are few lines in British drama so famous that people can quote them even when they've not read the play. One is "To be or not to be" from Hamlet. Another is "A handbag?", Lady Bracknell's astounded contemplation of the first home of her prospective son-in-law Jack - a foundling, it emerges - in Oscar Wilde's great comedy The Importance of Being Earnest. The line occurs in the play's key scene, in which Lady Bracknell interviews Jack Worthing, a suitor of her daughter. Its notoriety stems entirely from its delivery by the actress Edith Evans, who first played Lady Bracknell in the late 1930s, and went on to play her in the 1952 film. She doesn't so much say the word "handbag" as blast it out with the force and endurance of a foghorn.

When people quote the line, more often than not it is with the emphasis and extended vowels of Evans' delivery. No one knows this better than the countless actresses and actors - there is no sex bias when it comes to casting Lady Bracknell - who have played her in Evans' wake. So, if you'll excuse the pun, how do they deal with that baggage, and make the character their own? We asked seven actors to reveal all. Penelope Keith British tour, 2007; Vaudeville Theatre , London, 2008 She's a wonderful character to play. One of the reasons I like acting is you discover the different ways in which authors use our beautiful language. The handbag line does sit like a monkey on your shoulder, but I've tried to shake that off by looking at the play as a whole. Some of Lady Bracknell's wittiest lines are in the third act, long after the handbag scene. Every sentence is composed so amazingly, you can't change a syllable. Edith Evans' performance in the film does stay in one's mind. It's marvellous, but the play is somewhat different. Lady Bracknell is played as an absolute dragon.

I think it's because of a funny thing Jack says of her after their interview: that she is "a gorgon". Lady Bracknell isn't a gorgon, but a woman of her time. Although it was a patriarchal society, the hand that rocked the cradle was more important, certainly in family matters. The raison d'être for women in society with daughters was to get them married well. Money is important to Lady Bracknell. She's willing to accept Jack as a son-in-law because he has a reasonable income. It's the fact that he's a foundling that is deeply shocking. Una Stubbs West Yorkshire Playhouse, 1997 I was quite dubious when the director Lynne Parker asked me to play Lady Bracknell. I thought: why's she asking me? Lynne told me that just because a character is garrulous, strong and opinionated doesn't mean it has to be a large person: it can be a small person. When I began to tell people I was rehearsing Lady Bracknell, I could see bewilderment in their faces, as if they were thinking: "Peculiar casting." That made me nervous.

Everyone's always interested to see how you do the handbag line. I just laughed through it - it's such a ridiculous remark. Audiences didn't expect that, but they laughed, too. I think Lady Bracknell is very strong, witty, flirtatious and a complete stranger to self-doubt. That's hard to do when you're feeling doubt yourself, and I don't know if I pulled it off. I think I would do better now: I'm more experienced and I've played other powerful women. But I wouldn't like to play her again. I prefer to move on. Mona Hammond Bloomsbury Theatre, London; Opera House, Newcastle, 1989 I played Lady Bracknell in an all-black production. It was groundbreaking because no black company had ever tried Oscar Wilde . It was a huge challenge: we weren't used to the language, or to the background of the characters. These people were very mannered, and set like stone in their attitude to life. I couldn't understand how Lady Bracknell could be so concerned about the handbag when there was a poor child in it. That was the thing I thought I could bring to the play.

I talked about the baby, and played down the handbag. I still don't know if I did the right thing. David Woods British tour, 2005 Under the name Ridiculusmus, Jon Hough and I had been writing and performing our own material for a number of years, and thought it was time to measure ourselves up against a classic. We chose The Importance of Being Earnest because all the big scenes were duologues. I played Jack and Cecily, Jon played Algie and Gwendolyn. We took turns to play Lady Bracknell. She's such an icon, it didn't seem to matter who played her as long as the costume and image were strong. We made her a ridiculous hat with a huge cockerel on top. You do have to acknowledge the performance legacy: we're really stuck with Edith Evans' 36-syllable version of "a handbag". At the other end of the scale was Maggie Smith at the Aldwych in 1993, who did an unvoiced version: it didn't need to be said. When Jon did the handbag line, he did it simply and naturalistically.

People love to hate Lady Bracknell, but I think it's lovely when you see her played warm. Wendy Craig British tour, 2004 As soon as I read the play, I knew exactly how I wanted to play her. She didn't strike me as a downbeat, sour lady, but as a sprightly, flirtatious 50-year-old. I tried to make her charming, urbane and attractive. My impression of Lady Bracknell is of a powerful but loving matriarch, keen for her daughter to marry money and marry well. She's pragmatic and ruthless - after all, she pounced on Lord Bracknell, and made sure that her own lack of money didn't stand in her way. It's a scary role. People have preconceived ideas. I grew almost to dread the handbag line: sometimes, I could hear people in the audience saying the lines with me. But I decided not to be swayed. When I said "handbag", it was with utter amazement and disgust. I coughed with indignation - almost choked actually. Michael Fitzgerald Bristol Old Vic, 2005 A man can play Lady Bracknell because she is sexless.

Many great actresses have played Lady Bracknell with a notion that she has a sense of humour, which is completely wrong, or that she is fond of her nephew, Algie. I don't think that woman is fond of anything. She's simply right and everybody else, therefore, is wrong. I read somewhere that to Oscar Wilde's ears, Lady Bracknell would have been England telling Ireland off. She is society telling other people how to behave. I just made sure that I was Victorian: I walked properly, I handled my gloves properly, because that's what she would do. I was probably chosen to play Lady Bracknell because I lay down the law myself. Gabrielle Drake Nottingham Playhouse, 1990; Royal Exchange, Manchester, 2004 Wilde tells us that when Lady Bracknell married, she had no fortune. For her to have married an aristocrat in those days, she must have been either very young or very beautiful, or both. Her daughter Gwendolyn can't be more than 20 or 22, which puts Lady Bracknell at about 40 to 45. If that's the case, why is she such a terrifying gorgon?

Because she is the absolute height of a society woman. The people who really uphold the tenets of a society are almost always those who have entered into it, rather than those who were born into it - and Lady Bracknell rigidly upholds all the traditions of her class. She's immaculately groomed and, I think, fairly stunning. And a middle-aged woman who is groomed, stunning and obviously shocked by anything that is in the slightest degree different from what she feels should be the case is a terrifying prospect - far more than a bumbling old gorgon. · The Importance of Being Earnest, starring Penelope Keith, opens at the Vaudeville Theatre, London, on January 31. Box office: 0870 040 0046. · This article was amended on Wednesday January 30 2008. Maggie Smith played Lady Bracknell in the 1993 production of The Importance of Being Earnest at the Aldwych and not the National (Handbags at dawn, page 29, G2, January 23). This has been corrected.

Question: In which play does Lady Bracknell memorably say 'A handbag'?
Answer: THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST